Chapter 67: The Good Town Chief (Seeking Collection)

  The itinerary for the village inspection was arranged by Zhao Guotang, and Liu Siyuan took a rough look at it. He thought the arrangement was quite good, so he didn't raise many opinions and basically followed his plan.

  From this, he also discovered that Zhao Guozhu's ability was indeed somewhat, unfortunately, it had been buried in the town all along. This time, it was because he came over and took on the role of his 'liaison officer' that he finally got a chance to show off a bit.

  Similarly, Ma Feng is the same, I don't dare to say that his work ability is strong, and his image is a bit sloppy. However, at least he can make the town's party and government affairs office lively and organized, and various things are arranged in an orderly manner, which is also a manifestation of ability. Nevertheless, even though he is already over 40 years old, he is only a deputy section-level official, not even a regular national civil servant. No wonder I often heard people say that grassroots cadres work the hardest and have the fewest opportunities for promotion.

  According to Zhao Guotong's arrangement, Liu Siyuan visited a total of seven villages this time. After all, it is unrealistic to visit more than 30 villages at once, and neither time nor energy permits it. Therefore, Zhao Guotong selected the first batch of seven villages as typical ones based on his requirements, including relatively developed villages close to the town government and economically backward villages in the deep mountains that still do not have cement roads.

  Talking about roads, Beixi Town is planning to make every village accessible by cement road. There are still five villages that have not been connected yet, which was also emphasized by Township Mayor Wu Weiqiang in his government work report. Liu Siyuan also expressed agreement with this, as he himself came from the county and deeply understands the significance of a simple highway for a village.

  This time, the first big ditch mouth village he went to was one of the five villages that had not yet been connected by cement roads. To get to the big ditch mouth village, even small cars couldn't make it, and he could only take a special three-wheeled vehicle sent by the village committee to pick him up. Along the way, the car bounced on the rugged and uneven dirt road, from the town to the village, actually less than 30 kilometers away, but it took an entire hour and a half. It's said that in order to welcome this party secretary, the village specially installed some cushions on a three-wheeled vehicle, but even so, after entering the village, Liu Siyuan felt like his internal organs had all been shaken out, and he was even dizzy from walking.

  Village branch secretary and village chief Wu Danyan led several village committee members to welcome him. They saw that Liu Siyuan was about to faint, so he quickly had someone bring him into the house. After drinking a mouthful of hot ginger tea, Comrade Liu Siyuan, Secretary of the Town Party Committee, finally recovered slightly.

  He let out a long sigh and said with self-mockery: "Secretary Wu, it seems that the matter of paving the road can't be delayed any further."

  Wu Danyan saw him and didn't put on airs, his expression also became more natural. He had a loud voice and said: "Isn't that right? Our fellow villagers in the whole village have been looking forward to having an asphalt road every day. Seeing other villages one by one being connected, we are anxious too. Of course, the town's finances are difficult, our village is not unsympathetic... but so many flower peppers grown in our village can't be transported out..."

  Liu Siyuan waved his hand and said, "This time I came to see how this road will affect our village. Now you don't need to say anything, I understand. Besides, Secretary Wu, I didn't come down here just to sit in the office for meetings. I'm feeling a bit better now, so let's go take a walk around the village together."

  Wu Danyan said it's no problem, just a bit cold outside. Liu Siyuan smiled and said walking will warm us up. The latter then called a few staff members to walk out with Liu Siyuan.

  The village of Daxiaokou, although already considered a poor and remote area in Beixi with extremely inconvenient transportation, surprisingly still has well-maintained water conservancy facilities. It is recalled that during the early years after liberation, under the chairman's call, every village and production team participated voluntarily in the construction of water conservancy facilities. However, after reform and opening-up, this kind of voluntary labor almost disappeared, resulting in many rural areas' water conservancy facilities being left unrepaired for years, leading to a decreasing utilization rate. Nevertheless, Daxiaokou Village's water conservancy facilities are still functioning at nearly 100%, which is truly astonishing.

  "Wu Zhenzhang has always attached great importance to the construction of water conservancy, and Vice Mayor Yi is in charge of it. He comes to our village every month for inspection and organizes everyone to build and maintain it together." Wu Danyan introduced while walking.

  "The town government has allocated a special fund for all villages to maintain water conservancy facilities." Ma Feng added on the side. "This is mainly managed by Deputy Mayor Yi."

  This time Liu Siyuan went to the village for the first time to inspect the work, without bringing any deputy town leaders, but instead brought Ma Feng by name, which made him feel a bit honored and surprised, and he was particularly hardworking all the way.

  Liu Siyuan nodded and said, "Indeed, water conservancy irrigation can save a lot of labor for our fellow villagers, improve efficiency, this is a very good thing, we must continue to maintain it."

  Walking in the countryside, Liu Sanyuan discovered a situation where there were very few young and middle-aged people within sight. In the fields, it was mostly elderly people and preschool children playing together who were farming. This has resulted in a severe shortage of labor, with many good fields being abandoned and overgrown with weeds, which is quite regrettable.

  "The young people have all gone out to work, those under 30 went to the coastal areas at the forefront of reform and opening up, while those a bit older stayed within the province, such as in the provincial capital or Ziwai City, only the elderly and children are left." Ma Feng explained with a knowing smile.

  Liu Siyuan nodded, speechless. The hollowing out of rural areas is almost a universal phenomenon. All he could say was: "Looking at these abandoned fields, it's really heartbreaking."

  "Secretary Liu, the key issue is that farming doesn't make money now." Wu Danyan said loudly: "Not to mention working elsewhere, last year we have already returned tens of hectares of land for afforestation. Whether it's planting greenery or timber, both are more profitable than farming. Look, these lands used to be planted with double-season rice, but now they only plant one season..."

  "Lao Wu, this idea of yours is not right." Ma Feng suddenly looked serious and interrupted Wu Danyan's words: "The town has strict regulations regarding abandoned land, to ensure the red line of arable land..."

  "Director Ma, I understand the general idea." Wu Danyan sighed, "Now, the village has implemented a fine system, whoever leaves their land barren will be fined." He paused and continued: "So now everyone wants to return farmland to forest..."

  Liu Siyuan felt that it was also inappropriate for him to remain silent at this time, and could only say: "Old Wu, we can understand the difficulties in the village, and the town will also discuss the issues of abandoned land and 'hollowing out' separately. However, Director Ma is right, you must not forget that the country has deployed and clearly stipulated regulations for rural work, these bottom lines are absolutely not to be touched, and village cadres must also exert their subjective initiative and collective efforts to think of ways."

  Liu Siyuan's words were severe, but he still sympathized with the peasants in his heart. After leaving Daxiakou Village, he visited several other villages over the next few days. The situation in those villages closer to the town center was somewhat different. Although the "hollowing out" of the population and abandoned farmland were still severe, the farmers' lives were not particularly impoverished, mainly due to the compensation for land requisitioned during the urbanization process in Beixi Town over the years. However, this also spawned new problems. Due to the lack of spiritual life, many peasants who became rich overnight from land requisition were suddenly at a loss and lost their motivation. Social problems such as gambling also emerged quietly.

  Beixi Town, apart from its excellent water conservancy facilities, has another aspect that left a deep impression on him - education. It is said that after Wu Weiqiang became the town head, he consistently promoted the concentration of educational resources, concentrating primary and secondary schools in the central area of the town. For children in more remote rural areas, the town government subsidized weekly special buses to pick them up.

  And the government also funded a program to provide one cup of milk per day for primary school students and free lunch for middle school students. This policy is generally well-supported by the common people. It also conforms to the mainstream values and ideology of Qianhu Province, which differs from some other provinces in that education issues are highly valued throughout Qianhu Province, even among rural residents who believe that children being able to attend university is the best way out, and therefore are more willing to spend money on education.

  After several days of investigation, Liu Siyuan also had a preliminary understanding of Beixi Town. Generally speaking, Beixi Town is considered to be a relatively developed and wealthy town, especially after visiting several villages, Liu Siyuan continued to visit two industrial parks and felt that this small town in northern Hubei has some unique advantages, especially its transportation location, which is the intersection of four provincial highways, with convenient access to all directions. The surrounding area also has mature automobile and machinery industries, and can even be said to be a must-contend place for some business owners. Therefore, Beixi Town's economy ranks second in Cheng'en County, after the county government's location in Chengguan Town, and the gap between the two is already very small.

  I couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion, it turns out that Wu Weiqiang is still a good mayor after all, this time I'm in trouble.

  Seeking collection